Léa Salamé (France 2) and Gilles Bouleau (TF1) will present the debate between the two rounds. A choice that raises fears of interventionism by the two candidates in the choice of facilitators. The debate will be held on Wednesday April 20 at 9:00 p.m., four days before the second round which will oppose Marine Le Pen to Emmanuel Macron.
Anne-Sophie Lapix challenged by Marine Le Pen
As has been the custom for this traditional meeting since the 1974 election, the names of the journalists have been agreed between the channels and the campaign teams. But within France Télévisions, some believe that this choice would not necessarily have been the same if the candidates had not been consulted.
At the center of the questions, the presenter of the 8 p.m. of France 2, Anne-Sophie Lapix. “We hear that neither Macron nor Le Pen wanted her for days or even weeks,” an editorial reporter told AFP.
A position that Jordan Bardella, acting president of the RN, has publicly assumed. “Marine Le Pen does not want Anne-Sophie Lapix to lead the debate” because the journalist “cannot hide her hostility”, he said on CNews on Monday. The management of France Télévisions categorically denies having yielded to the demands of the candidates. “No one has been challenged, those who say the opposite will lie”, assures AFP Laurent Guimier, director of information for the public group.
“Léa Salamé, who is an excellent interviewer, was the number one choice”, he continues about the one who co-hosted with him Elysée 2022, France 2’s first evening program on the presidential election. “There is a logic” in her leading the debate after presenting this flagship program, underlines Laurent Guimier.
One duty parity
For its part, “TF1 had full latitude in the choice of its journalist”, declared to AFP Thierry Thuillier, deputy general manager of the Information division of the TF1 group. “We had only one duty: parity. It was clear that if a woman was to represent France Télévisions, it was necessarily a man (for TF1), and this man was necessarily Gilles Bouleau, ”he added. This episode has in any case fueled criticism against the practice which wants the candidates to have their say on the hosts of the debate.
“This right of veto or challenge from another time must be abolished”, denounced the National Union of Journalists (SDJ) of France Télévisions on Wednesday, after the publication of articles in the newspapers Le Parisien and Le Monde mentioning the Lapix case.
“These choices should be up to the editorial teams and to them alone,” added another union, the SNJ-CGT, on Thursday. “It’s true that it’s a bit archaic,” journalist Christophe Jakubyszyn told AFP. Today at BFMTV, he co-hosted the 2017 between-two-round debate for TF1, already between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.
Campaign incidents
Beyond this symbolic debate, several controversies of this kind have marked this campaign. In the week preceding the first round, Emmanuel Macron had been the only one of the twelve candidates not to participate in Elysée 2022, his team highlighting “agenda problems”.
The Society of Journalists (SDJ) of France 2 had criticized him for “refusing invitations” from the channel. To respect the equality of speaking time, France 2 had broadcast images of one of its meetings, which had caused tension in the editorial staff.
And Tuesday during a press conference, Marine Le Pen assumed to marginalize the journalists of the Quotidien program (TMC), accused of making “entertainment” and not information. “Election evening, campaign event, interview on set, press conferences…
It is not up to politicians to choose the journalists who question them”, protested the SDJ of France 2 on Wednesday in the light of all these incidents.
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